Screen Weekly, India
Oct 27 2006
Indian Documentaries much-talked about at Turkey Intl Docu Film
Festival
Rwita Dutta
Posted online: Friday, October 27, 2006 at 0000 hours IST
Istanbul is history reincarnated. With the Asian part on one side and
Europe on the other, the city represents universality. Especially the
nine days of The `International 1001 Documentary Film Festival’
(September 29 to October 5, 2006) has accentuated the universality of
the seventh art form called `cinema’. The Association of Documentary
Filmmakers’ of Turkey may not have a mega budget to provide its
guests with sumptuous cocktail parties every night, but shows utmost
dedication in terms of choosing the right kind of documentaries
coming from all over the world. The festival provided a warm
atmosphere for the documentary filmmakers and spectators from all
over the globe to meet and get to know each other through cinema.
Nurdan Arca, the Director of this otherwise humble looking, low
profile festival declared the mission of the Association Of
Documentary Film Makers’ of Turkey who hosted this festival. They
hold the eternal belief that it is possible to live in a world
without wars. Quite formidable and indeed pertinent!
The festival has so far hosted more than 100 documentary makers with
754 films from 44 countries since 1977. They have till date 50,000
audience and more. This year, itself, they have a wide spectrum of
124 films from 29 countries. The documentaries exhibit varieties of
subjects. From human portraits to encounters in daily life as well as
social issues are hindered upon. This 9th edition of Documentary Film
Festival had twelve sections screened in four most significant venues
in the city: the Italian Cultural Center, the French Cultural Center,
Kamal Ataturk Cultural Center and Nazim Hikmet Cultural Center.
The focus country was Finland. It beautifully projects films, which
tell us the stories of a country perceived to be cold and distant.
Among the seven films travelling from the northern tip of the globe,
Arto Halonen was the famous one. On the closing day, the audience was
bemused by the retrospective of Arto’s six films. From Tankman of
Cuba, he has come a long way in the amazing Pavlov’s Dogs – his
latest on Russia.
Created in cooperation with the Polish TV, the four documentary films
from Poland looked at history by using footages from archives. There
were also few selected Armenian films from their one and only
International Film Festival `Golden Apricot’.
Jan Vrijman Foundation is an offshoot of the founder of the biggest
documentary film festival, IDFA in Holland, Amsterdam. This
foundation is a boon for the talented, upcoming, independent
filmmakers from across the continents as it funds and supports
various projects every year. The ninth 1001 Documentary Film Festival
presents a collection of films supported by the foundation.
The Kultur and Culture is the joint venture of the documentary makers
of USA and Turkey. One of their latest productions Time Piece is an
ensemble of collective documentaries based on different time slots in
a single day. This film had its world premiere in this festival.
Celebrated documentary makers from USA such as Albert Maysels and Sam
Pollard were also present with their works.
In the segment named `Cultures-Colors’, eight documentaries were
screened. All of these tell us the stories of colors, cultures and
languages that are dying. For instance, Elizabeta Koneska, an
ethnologist from Macedonia traced back the existence of a Turkish
ethnic, nomadic group in Macedonia whereas a film from China
highlights the triumphs and traumas of acrobatic industry there.
Everybody Has A Story made a thoughtful insight into the everyday
lives of people, their stories and the hidden heroes among them.
Stories of forced migration and immigrants who struggle to establish
roots in their new countries seem to bear a universal theme. In Far
from Home, after most of the films and the audience enjoyed the
opportunity to meet with the filmmakers. Several panels were
organized amongst which were `Reproduction of violence in the media
and in documentary films’, `Growing influences of documentaries’.
There was also a master class of editing named `Editing Films:
Editing Life’.
The package of Bengal was extraordinary. Tales from both East and
West Bengal were truly represented in documentaries coming from
Bangladesh as well as Kolkata. Lots of questions were asked about
Indian documentaries, which were probably been satisfactorily
answered by the Indian Film Critics present there.
Documentaries are questioning life and presenting the ethereal. They
broaden our horizons open up new windows for us to discover what lies
behind the visible. The festival in the `City of two Continents’ was
successful in bringing out the crux of the power of documentaries!
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